Lucescu: Juve are the example to follow

Lucescu: Juventus are the example to follow in Serie A

28/11/2012 3:00:00 AM

The former Inter and Brescia boss says the Old Lady's club mentality is the right way to achieve long-term success, but also believes Serie B has much to offer coaches

Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu has publicly praised Juventus and offered his insights on the flaws within Serie A and the rest of Italian football.

After a long coaching career in Italy where he took charge of clubs including Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana, and Inter, the 67-year-old said building a side up steadily would always be preferable to buying in short-term talent.

"Juventus are definitely an example to follow," said the ex-Romania forward to La Gazetta dello Sport.

"[They have] a stadium owned by the club, they are reliable, and have athletes educated in the spirit of the club, not players that come for a year or two. Take them young and let them grow with the team.

"Inter took this path," said Lucescu. "[AC] Milan, however, remained with [another] way of thinking, taking players at the end of their contract, thinking very little [about] building up. How can you build a team of people aged 34-35 years old? They will never be part of your soul."

But the ex-Besiktas coach also said that he believes there is a significant difference between Serie A and Serie B.

"The best championship was the Serie B," admitted the Romanian boss. "It was the league of coaches. The Serie A was the league of presidents, whoever has the most amount of money wins.

"The Serie B produces coaches, the good ones have to go there. In Italy, a coach cannot be a leader. He needs time and titles to be estimated."

Lucescu won the Serie B with Brescia, and reached the quarter finals of the Champions League several times with Inter, Galatasaray and Besiktas.

His current squad at Shakhtar Donetsk currently sit top of Champions League Group E with 10 points, above Juve and last year's champions, Chelsea.

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